13 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Music

Ash Parrish
Ash Parrish
Stop what you’re doing and turn on this Twitch stream right now.

Daft Punk (y’know the French electronica duo with the really cool helmets) is streaming their anime movie Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem on their official Twitch channel right now.

If you’ve never seen it, it’s great. If you’ve seen it a million times, watch it again. Or if you really like Daft Punk’s Discovery album and wonder what it would look like as feature length animated movie, then oh boy have I got a treat for you.

Emilia David
Emilia David
Apple Music Replay will recap listening habits monthly.

Sharing music statistics online became a yearly tradition thanks to Spotify Wrapped. Now, Apple Music’s Replay feature is turning up the frequency with monthly breakdowns (after YouTube Music added seasonal updates in 2022) and will also note “milestones” for users, like the total number of minutes they spent listening to that one album. Users, of course, can share their music recaps online every month.

TechCrunch reports monthly Replay recaps will only be available to users “who listen to enough music.”

Three simulated screenshots showing the monthly Apple Music Replay recap screens on iPhones with total minutes listened, top songs, and milestone achievements.
Image: Apple via TechCrunch
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
A quartet of Beatles biopics may form Sony’s next cinematic universe.

While Sony’s plan to kick off a new cinematic universe with Madame Web doesn’t seem like it will work out, the studio migt end up having much better luck with four new biopics about Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison from director Sam Mendes.

Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel
Jay-Z, Instagram Dad.

Some things are universal.

Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel
The TikTok music situation, explained.

The longer the TikTok / UMG battle drags on, the more I think UMG’s leverage increases. Talked about it on Today, Explained with my pal Sean Rameswaram — and Cory Doctorow also joined this episode, so it’s a fun one.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Beyoncé’s new music is coming to break Verizon’s network.

Beyoncé has new music out, and Verizon’s Super Bowl ad about the drop maybe crashing its cell network doesn’t feel like all that much of a stretch.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Don’t worry, Swifties, Taylor made it.

The NFL posted that Taylor Swift arrived at the Super Bowl to watch Travis Kelce play. Does that guarantee a third pillar of Swift-obsessed viewers will join those who want to know what happens in the game and those who just want to watch the commercials?

The New York Times looked at this season’s Chiefs games ratings and... maybe?

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Look at DJ Diplo’s sick plant coat.

Just kidding, I’m obviously posting this because of the Vision Pro and Tim Cook content, spotted by 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller. But why is Cook hugging one of the members of EDM trio Major Lazer? Listen, these guys go way back.

It does look like a comfy coat, though.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Nintendo’s Splatoon 3 gets the band treatment, and it slaps.

Nintendo released an orchestral performance of music from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom yesterday in lieu of its canceled Tokyo Live 2024 event.

This one’s a little different, featuring several bands doing Splatoon 3 up in a way that would feel right at home on stage at video game art festival MAGFest.

Ariel Shapiro
Ariel Shapiro
Music podcasters are furious that Spotify is killing Music + Talk.

Spotify for Podcasters is changing, and according to some creators, not for the better.

An expanded partnership with Riverside will replace some of the platform’s native mobile and web creation tools, and it’s sunsetting Music + Talk, a feature introduced in 2020 that allows podcasters to plug licensed full-length tracks into episodes. Podcasters who focus on music, in particular, have a particular need for that capability and say their shows will be gutted by the change.

Ash Parrish
Ash Parrish
Finally, some Zelda music Nintendo won’t take down.

After Nintendo cancelled it’s Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo event, the two concerts set to take place during the event — Zelda and Splatoon — were scheduled to be released later on YouTube. The first of those two concerts, Tears of the Kingdom, is now available and it starts strong.

Zelda music rarely, if ever, misses, and just the first notes of TOTK’s “Main Theme” hits like a rolling Goron. Splatoon fans can listen to their concert tomorrow February 10th.

Amrita Khalid
Amrita Khalid
Warner Music Group to lay off 600 employees and close the Interval Presents podcast division.

WMG CEO Robert Kyncl -- who thinks you could pay more for Spotify-- revealed the record label will lay off 10 percent of its workforce, or 600 employees. It’s winding down the podcast division behind Rap Radar and Drink Champs, and IMGN Media. It’s also in an “exclusive process” to sell Uproxx and HipHopDX.

Earlier on Wednesday, WMG reported Q1 revenue of $1.75 billion — its highest quarterly revenue since it went public, and net income of $193 million.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
It is Bandcamp Friday.

Late last year, Epic Games sold the company to Songtradr, and half the employees were laid off, but Bandcamp is still continuing its artist-supporting pandemic tradition.

Music from Open Mike Eagle (who also has a podcast), EVA808, Nicolaas, and NOT_MDK (below), as well as countless others, is available to purchase through 12AM PT without Bandcamp taking a revenue share.

Amrita Khalid
Amrita Khalid
Universal Music Group is set to pull its music from TikTok.

The corporate home to Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Drake is preparing to stop licensing its music to TikTok, due to disagreements over issues like artist compensation and AI, Variety reports.

In an open letter to the artist community, UMG claims “TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.” Its current licensing agreement with TikTok expires on January 31.

The best tech gifts for under $50The best tech gifts for under $50
Sheena Vasani
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Shazam makes song identification easier for headphone wearers.

Version 17.3 of the Shazam iOS app can now identify what track is playing while wearing wired or Bluetooth headphones — regardless if the song is being played aloud nearby, or directly on the device via apps like TikTok and YouTube. In-app song identification was already available, but only if the user wasn’t wearing headphones.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
“Hooman. Stereo. 1957.”

Jack Stratton took a break from laying down funky guitar riffs for his band, Vulfpeck, to don a dark turtleneck and pitch Apple on a plan to “take back the belt from Spotify” by moving to a 90 / 10 split for artists on Apple Music.

Could Stratton’s pitch change minds at Apple? Maybe not, but it’s a nice chance to remind you about that time Vulfpeck made $20K from Spotify by uploading, and asking fans to listen to, a totally silent album.

Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel
Modern music requires as many lawyers as it does artists.

The sad news that Pitchfork is being folded into GQ means that its excellent features team is being laid off — a team that did some piercing work on how music is actually being made. Here’s a look at the companies that buy huge catalogs from legends and try and get them reworked into new tracks — and more.

“How do we turn James Brown’s house into a mini-Graceland?” Lowenberg wonders aloud. “Do we launch it first, you know, in the metaverse, and have people able to walk through and learn about James Brown’s house?”

Whatever tech does to the music industry, it does to everything else five years later. Be careful out there.

Pitchfork to be absorbed into GQPitchfork to be absorbed into GQ
Amrita Khalid
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Vince Staples Show just wants you to be more cultured.

Vince Staples is something of a renaissance man. He’s a rapper, an actor, and a lowkey, funny-ass comedian, but in the first trailer for Netflix’s The Vince Staples Show from executive producer Kenya Barris, Vince is really …just a dude trying to live, and get a little more culture in people’s diets.

The new project seems a bit like Staples’ old YouTube series, which you should probably check out before the new shop drops on February 15th.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
You can be The Last of Us’ composer. Really.

By playing as the actual composer, Gustavo Santaolalla, in The Last of Us Part II Remastered’s guitar freeplay mode. The banjo is an option, too.

The game comes out on January 19th.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Yeah!

Apple Music has posted the trailer for its Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show — and I have to say, it has gotten me pretty pumped for Usher’s performance.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
What’s your username? I’ll save it to me database.

Dance for me, Robot Kevin.

(Content note: some foul language, maybe don’t blast this in your office.)

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic looks like a rough ride.

Singer Amy Winehouse’s story was as short and tragic as her music was utterly beautiful.

But watching the new trailer for StudioCanal / Focus Feature’s Back to Black from director Sam Taylor-Johnson, it’s hard not to get the sense that the biopic might come across rather tone deaf and gawker-y when it hits theaters on April 12th in the US, and May 10th in the US.